Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a development device for configuring a model of a technical system to represent signal paths, in particular for configuring a model of a technical system on a computer with a display, wherein the model depicts at least two signal paths of the technical system and, in an initial representation, all input signals, output signals, and all processing units, and hence variables that influence the output signals, are depicted in the form of block elements in a circuit diagram.
Within the scope of the present invention, the term ‘development device’ can be understood to be a device by means of which a user, which is to say a person using the device, for example, can depict a graphical model of a technical system and configure it in accordance with the task at hand.
An input signal can be understood within the scope of this invention as the signal that is converted through processing by a processing unit into an output signal. It is not necessarily the first signal in a processing chain. Thus, the output signal of one processing module of a first subsection of a complete signal path can constitute the input signal of a subsequent processing module of a second subsection of the complete signal path. The input signal is accordingly characterized in that it is transformed into an output signal by processing in a processing unit, hence there is a chronological sequence in the signal processing.
Description of the Background Art
The signal paths in graphical models generally have a quite complex structure, so that it can become confusing for the user to determine which influencing variables act on the individual signals, and where they are located in the graphical model. Oftentimes a hierarchical representation is selected, where the rough structure of the technical system is represented on a topmost level and detail views for specific blocks within the system can be selected by selecting the applicable lower levels.
In programs such as MATLAB/Simulink, it is possible to trace a signal path back to its source within a graphical model using the options “Highlight to source” or “Highlight to destination,” in that the representation of the signal path in the display is highlighted to its source. Only the output of the last processing unit that has been passed through is viewed as the source in this context.